Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Singapore conducted its first execution of a woman in 19 years on Friday and its second hanging this week for drug trafficking despite calls for the city-state to cease capital punishment for drug-related crimes.

Activists said another execution is planned next week.

Saridewi Djamani, 45, was sentenced to death in 2018 for trafficking about 31 grams (1 ounce) of diamorphine, or pure heroin, the Central Narcotics Bureau said. It said the amount was “sufficient to feed the addiction of about 370 abusers for a week.”

BEIJING, July 27 (APP): Pakistan Ambassador to China, Moin ul Haque on Thursday invited the Chinese drone manufacturers to move in Pakistan and set up unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) / drone industry and production units in the special technology zones which were being set up in the country.

The present government is offering special incentives and tax exemptions with a focus on civil application of drones, he said while addressing the China-Pakistan Conference on “Building a viable drone industry in Pakistan” held in Pakistan Embassy Beijing.

TOKYO, July 27. /TASS/: On July 26 in Pyongyang North Korean leader Kim Jong-un received a Russian military delegation led by Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported.

The meeting will serve to further deepen ties between Russia and North Korea. According to the KCNA, the Russian Defense Minister handed a personal message from Russian President Vladimir Putin to Kim Jong-un. It is noted that the North Korean leader expressed gratitude for the message. Also, according to the agency, Shoigu and Kim Jong-un exchanged gifts.

ULAN BATOR, Jul 27 (NNN-XINHUA) – Five people were killed in a traffic accident, in the southern Mongolian province of Umnugovi, last night, the country’s Traffic Police Department said, today.

The accident occurred when a car crashed into a truck, on a paved road in the territory of Khankhongor soum (administrative subdivision) of the province, the police department said, adding that, all five people in the car lost their lives immediately, at the scene.

HONG KONG, July 27 (Reuters) - Global investors are increasingly choosing to bypass China's markets in favour of other emerging countries that are either gaining from the geopolitical and growth risks stalking the world's second-biggest economy or are far removed from them.

Reuters analysis shows a massive jump in the assets of emerging market (EM) mutual funds and exchange traded funds (ETFs) that exclude China as U.S. and European investors turn more wary of being exposed to the Asian giant.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu to discuss military issues and the regional security environment, state media said Thursday as the country celebrated the 70th anniversary of an armistice that halted fighting in the 1950-53 Korean War.

PHNOM PENH, July 26 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen said on Wednesday that he would step down from Aug. 22 after serving the post for more than 38 years in the Southeast Asian nation, and would pass the reins of power to his eldest son Hun Manet.

"Hun Manet will become the prime minister in just more than three weeks," he said in a televised speech on the state-run National Television of Cambodia (TVK).

TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s population declined in all of its 47 prefectures for the first time in a record drop, while its number of foreign residents hit a new high, reaching almost 3 million people, according to government data released Wednesday, highlighting the increasing role that non-Japanese people play in the shrinking and aging country.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Samsung Electronics on Wednesday unveiled two foldable smartphones as it continues to bet on devices with bending screens, a budding market that has yet to fully take off because of high prices.

The clamshell-designed Galaxy Z Flip 5 and Galaxy Z Fold 5, a larger device that opens and folds like a book, will be available for pre-orders starting July 26 in certain markets including the United States and South Korea.

25 July 2023; MEMO: Vietnam and Israel signed a free trade agreement on Tuesday, predicting it would quickly boost annual bilateral trade by nearly 50 per cent, Reuters reports.

The agreement was signed in Israel between the two countries' trade ministers after seven years of negotiations, Vietnam's Ministry of Industry and Trade said in a statement.